Men jump out window, save neighbors from DeKalb condo fire

Two dozen residents were displaced Monday morning when a fire ripped through several DeKalb County condos and forced two men to jump from their second-floor window.

No one was injured, thanks to those two men, who alerted their neighbors to the blaze, officials said.

The fire broke out about 6 a.m. at the Le Parc Fontaine Condominums off Fairington and Panola roads, DeKalb deputy chief Shane Dobson said.

“We had heavy fire involvement,” he said. “(It) looked like it was coming from the second floor.”

Shaquan Alston, one of the men who jumped, was one of responding firefighters’ first points of contact on scene, telling them which units still had residents inside.

“I smelled the smell of fire so I immediately hopped up, looked out my window and saw a lot of smoke,” he said.

Alston woke up his roommate, Trenton Wyatt, to get out of the building, but the exit through their front door to an interior hallway was blocked with heavy black smoke.

So Wyatt suggested they jump out the window.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Alston said. “That was our thinking. I’m not going to die today.”

Alston and Wyatt then went around knocking on windows to wake up their neighbors and alert them to the danger.

Firefighters helped several residents and one dog evacuate the burning building.

“We did have trapped residents at the time,” Dobson said. “They were able to get all residents out of the structure safely.”

The Red Cross is assisting 25 people displaced from their homes.

According to officials, the fire damaged 16 units in two buildings. Six of those units were occupied.

“I’m still in shock,” Alston said. “You don’t expect something like this to happen while you're in the middle of your sleep... to know that we got everybody up and out of there safely, it really feels good. We just felt like we were doing the right thing.”

He said despite all they lost in the fire, it is a blessing everyone walked away with their lives.

“We’re very proud of him,” Dobson said. “... His efforts are truly appreciated.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.